The narrative of the book of Ruth is a drama of ordinary human life, but the drama unfolds against a background of the providence and purposes of God. Katharine Doob Sakenfeld has written a commentary that makes very clear why the book of Ruth has such great importance as literature and as Scripture.
The brilliance of this commentary lies in its even-handed treatment of both the human and divine dimensions of the text; Sakenfeld's interpretation is sociological as well as theological. She assesses all the significant questions about the origin and purpose of the book, and wisely asserts that the organizing center of a proper reading must be found in the narrative itself rather than in tentative answers to historical questions.